now happening at c spire

Telecom, technology provider bolsters network to maintain service in the worst situations

Ridgeland, Miss., (May 26, 2022) – C Spire is committed to protecting the communities it serves in preparation for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. With a highly trained staff and bolstered network, C Spire is ready to respond to emergencies and widespread natural disasters, when they occur.

C Spire hardens its extensive wireless and wireline networks and prepares its workforce for a wide range of potential disasters, including major weather events such as hurricanes. The company routinely reviews and updates its emergency preparedness and crisis communications plans and conducts drills throughout the year to test the readiness of its network and employees.

“It is vital that we prepare for the upcoming 2022 hurricane season,” said Alan Jones, Chief Network Officer at C Spire. “Our preparedness will give customers the highest communications reliability during the time they need it most.”

Additionally, Jones said all C Spire employees and contractors, along with an extensive suite of network resources, will be on "high alert" throughout the 2022 hurricane season.

The company also is ready to activate its Emergency Response and Crisis Communications plans, which guide the use of resources and personnel during a crisis and the overall response to a natural disaster.

C Spire routinely takes precautionary steps and puts restoration teams through various training and test scenarios and masses equipment and materials to protect critical network facilities and cell sites. The company uses back up batteries at mobile sites and switching centers and arranges for replacement fuel supplies in case normal fuel delivery options are interrupted by commercial power outages or road closures.

The company operates multiple hurricane-ready “super switches” that provide added protection and service assurance for customers. The high-tech telecommunications switching facilities are designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 155 miles an hour, connect millions of calls, wireless data transmissions, video content and other critical services daily for consumer and business customers. In addition to hardened and reinforced shells, the all-steel and concrete buildings house large-scale 500-kilowatt diesel power generators, a grid of back up batteries and other redundant back-up systems, operations and technologies.

Some of the structures feature a 9-inch think external steel-reinforced precast concrete walls welded to 6-foot-wide spread footings. In addition to multiple redundant power feeds, the buildings also boast giant diesel generators each capable of producing 1.65 megawatts of continuous power, enough to light thousands of homes and businesses.

In addition, C Spire Business, the company’s business IT division, offers firms of all sizes data protection services with cloud backup and disaster recovery. The division also will be hosting a series of in-person and virtual online sessions for business owners to learn how to better protect their critical data.

C Spire Home, the company’s fixed broadband division, also offers highly reliable and virtually weather-proof fiber-based, ultra-fast Gigabit internet access and related services to consumers and businesses in Mississippi and Alabama.

“This infrastructure, our continuing network investments and our dedicated, customer-inspired workforce will help ensure that essential communications continue for our consumer and business customers even when we experience severe weather events, natural disasters and other life-threatening situations,” Jones said.

The company is coordinating its emergency response efforts with local, state and federal agencies and organizations, including the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts until November 30. The official federal outlook is predicting another above-average season of storm activity.